Chapter 3

Alley returned to the lab once more. Her test has begun; by tomorrow at 2:30pm she will have the final results. As she approached her desk, she paused to the sight of her brother Pac leaning against it. "Hey," he said.

Her defenses went up. "Pac… why are you here?"

His arms crossed to her. "Didn't someone tell me that despite how I never wanted to become like dad, that it was genetics and beyond my control?"

She glared at him; he was forcing Alley to heed her own advice in a sense. She placed down her things and sighed. "I shouldn't have been so harsh on you, I'm sorry!" she protested. "I don't want to talk about this, not now."

"Yes now!" he snapped back. "Sis, it happened. So what? You still got a boyfriend who likes you for who you are!"

She froze to the news that was when Pac appeared to pick up on the source of her depression. "Did you and Suiryu break up?"

"NO," she yelled. "No… at least, not yet."

Pac stared at her oddly. "Not yet? What do you mean by that? Not yet?"

She sighed and brought up her latest research to her brother. Showing the protein she made that consumes monster DNA in a human body. "I took a blood sample from Suiryu a while back, and I exposed this protein to it. Watch what happens." Her brother stared at the screen but was a little startled to see the protein eat the cells around itself, yet expel new and healthy ones. "This cleans up and devours monster DNA. Since Suiryu still has human DNA in him it doesn't harm it. Pac, I have a cure now. For those who are half way turned. I am testing, I'll know for certain by tomorrow."

"Alley, this is remarkable!" He smiled to her, proud of what she accomplished, but she wasn't proud of herself. "Wait, is this what's bothering you?"

She nodded. "Suiryu could have any woman he wants, there hasn't been one that I've seen who would refuse him. Every time we go out, there are girls stating they couldn't wait for him to turn back, and the moment he does, they announced they were available. Pac, I am not the prettiest girl in the world to say the least…"

"Whoa, hold it. Since when the hell do you have self esteem issues?" he demanded. "Out of all of us, you I thought were the most confident."

"I'm not, why do you think I stay in a lab? Why keep myself isolated from the world? Pac, I can cure Suiryu, Max and Snek. I know this will work. But the question is, would Suiryu want to still be with me after this is all said and done? I just feel… he's with me because he doesn't have much of a choice."

She waited for his response. Pac however was smirking to her words. "Did he tell you before, he wanted to ask you out before he became what he was?"

"Yeah, plenty of times!"

"It's true. Before our match, he was distracted. He kept looking at you in the crowd, trying to get your attention, but you were talking to dad at the time. He was interested in you long before he was turned. He's been with you for what, two years almost? He hasn't looked at any other girls has he?"

"He puts them down gently when I'm around."

"He doesn't say 'I'll call you later' or anything?" She shook her head. "Damn, he has it bad for you then."

"Pac, that's not the point!" she protested. "If this works, I can render him human again. He won't have to be with me… he won't have to live at home with us… he can go back to being Suiryu."

Pac nodded to it all. "True." He said. "But what if he doesn't want to?"

Alley stared at him, confused to say the least. "What do you mean? Of course he wants to be human again, he keeps encouraging me to find a cure!"

"Yeah, but has he said what he was going to do the moment he's cured? Did he keep asking you day in and out when it would be ready? Was he already making plans on when he is rendered human again?"

"Pac…"

"Talk to him, Alley. Go out on your date with him, go have fun and see where this goes. I know you are not fussed on being in public after what happened, but as far as our track record goes, nothing else has occurred the moment we became this. You're not going to change any farther, at least not for a while. Go out with him, go have fun" he insisted.

She forced a smile. "Since when the hell do you become the encouraging one?"

Pac shrugged his shoulders. "When a brother has to be. Come on, let's go home."